Slimline Pop 'n Swap Card - Welcome Winter

For this month's Designer Challenge I taught a modification of the Pop 'n Swap die set to create a side swing arm. I mentioned in the video that this technique would work for any theme, so I thought I'd try a winter-themed version.

This is a slimline card measuring 3.5" x 8.5" when closed. The background is made using our new Snowflakes Pattern Plate and Crosshatch Long Rectangles die sets.

There are three styles of snowflakes in the pattern plate, so I cut it out of three colors and then snipped out matching snowflakes from each color to paste over a white pattern plate, creating the three-color plate. Then I repeated the process two more times with the remaining partial pieces so that I ended up with three full pattern plates, all with 3-colors of snowflakes. From there I just cut and spliced to fit my card.

Once the card is open two snowmen appear on the swing arms, the lower one peering through the window.

I used our new Slim Frames die set on this card for the window frame and the oval greeting frame. I also used the two snowflakes from the new Holiday Charms die set.

Learn the technique for this card by watching this Autumn-themed version full video tutorial:

Here are the dies I used on my winter version:

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 34 - Pattern Plates

Welcome to June 2020.

I had mixed feelings about posting a Designer Challenge at a time when our nation is so full of sorrow, struggle, anger and injustice. I considered, though, that our hobbies can be a source of peace in a time that feels so uncertain. Sending a handmade card can bring much-needed joy to others. It's very important that we keep our minds and spirits strong so that we can be part of the change this country so desperately needs.

And so, on with the challenge.

This month the theme is Pattern Plates. I challenged the team to use any of our Pattern Plates in a card of any theme. 

For my card and video I wanted to try something a little different. Spiral shapes can be used as pop-ups, and our Swirls Pattern Plate is full of little spirals/swirls. My thought was to attach the pattern plate to the Cupcake Pop-up and then glue the swirl centers to the card to create an interesting dimensional sculpture that could be decorated with cupcakes.

Watch the YouTube video to learn how to create this effect:

This top fold card measures 4.75" x 6" when closed, so it will fit nicely in an A7 envelope for mailing. For the front decoration I used leftover materials to create a simple lead-in. The large cupcake is included in the Cupcake Pop-up die set and the small cupcake charm is in the Birthday Charms die set.

When the card opens the cupcake pop-up comes forward and expands the spirals in the Swirls Pattern Plate. I covered the pop-up cupcake with one of our crosshatch circles to convert it into a generic backdrop for the swirl sculpture. The greeting is our large Happy Birthday die.

In the video I mention some other ideas for this technique. Treating the sculpture like streamers makes it perfect for any celebratory theme, like anniversary, graduation or retirement. But I also envision a cool look with underwater scenes, using the swirls as waves or seaweed. Our little animals also look adorable "climbing" on the sculpture. The frosting of all the larger cupcakes were cut from a piece of cardstock decorated with the same color Tiles Pattern Plate to resemble a dry embossed texture. 

Want to give this card a try? Here are the dies and supplies used in the video. The chevron patterned paper was a very old piece from my stash.

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Now let's take a look at the wonderful inspiration by our talented international Design Team.

Kelly Booth made this wonderful Coffee Cup Pop-up card and incorporated the Tiles Pattern Plate to decorate the cup itself. What a wonderful way to create texture on the cup. I love the masculine vibe to this card.

Kelly Booth made a second Coffee Cup Pop-up card and this time used the Swirls Pattern Plate to create the texture on the cup and front of the card. She went white-on-white for this card, making it look like a dry embossed texture. Such gorgeous colors!

Fran Sabad stacked three Tiles Pattern Plates on top of each other to make a dimensional frame for the front of this bright cheery card. The inside mechanism is the Upsy Daisy Pop-up. I just love the vibrant inking and uplifting (literally) feel to this card.

Karen Aicken combined some fun stamps from Riley and Co. with the Spinner Square Pop-up and Swirls Pattern Plate for a funny card about a dog named Shark! I love how Karen framed out the Swirls Pattern Plate on the front of the card.

Sandy Diller created this super cute Upsy Daisy Pop-up card featuring the Tiles Pattern Plate and the hedgehog from the Winter Animals. I love the bright fun colors on this and the way she stenciled the eyes differently on the two hedgehogs. Adorable! 

Frances Byrne has been rocking the popular slimline style of card. On this one she cleverly hid the seam between two Swirls Pattern Plates behind the castle spire. Inside the card the Katherine Label is used for the pop-up. This card just screams happy!

Lois Bak made THREE cards for the challenge! First up is a lovely mermaid card using the Swirls Pattern Plate and the Katherine Label Pop-up. I love how she sliced up the pattern plate to use it just on the bottom half of the card.

Next, Lois tackled the Flowers Pattern Plate, using two layered together for a gorgeous Heart Pivot Panels anniversary card.

For her final card, Lois used the Tiles Pattern Plate on a manly knight Father's Day card using the Rockin' Rectangle Pop-up die set. Lois really showed off the versatility of the Pattern Plates with her card variety this month.

 

If you are new to our Pattern Plates you can watch the assembly video here:

Please join us next month on Wednesday, July 8th for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of Two Folds. 

Happy Crafting!

Memorial Day Card and Free Shipping

Wishing everyone a blessed and safe Memorial Day Weekend. Within our family there is military service on both sides, including three late grandparents who fought in WWII, plus John's father (pararescue in Vietnam) and many uncles and cousins. We honor all of their service as well as the patriotism and sacrifice of all veterans and their families.

We are offering free shipping on our website for US orders between now and Monday, May 25, 2020. No code is needed. While you're there, be sure to also check out our new Pop-up Perks Program, a way to earn reward points. You'll find a purple "rewards" box in the lower right corner of our website for signing up. 

I wanted to make a Memorial Day card using our new Paper Frames Pop-up die set. My son Karl was in the room fixing my computer as I was planning the card. I knew I wanted to fashion an Uncle Sam outfit for one of our animal dies.

ME: Karl, what's the most patriotic animal?

KARL: A bald eagle.

ME: Oh yeah. Duh.

This card measure 3.75" tall by 6" wide when closed. I used a 1/2" corner chomper to round the corners. The Tiles Pattern Plate for the front of the card was cut out of white cardstock and then inked in patriotic colors. The labels and banners come included in the Paper Frames Pop-up die set.

Open the card to reveal the pop-up. Once again I used the Tiles Pattern Plate, but this time in the same blue as the card so it would be a tone-on-tone effect. I decorated with white stars. Our Alphabet set is used for the USA letters. 

The eagle is made with a combination of a Spring Animals chick head/legs and Winter Animals penguin body, plus the top hat and bow tie from Tiny Accessories 1. I used a decorator label in the Paper Frames set to cut a window on each side of the pop-up that I backed with a piece of the Tiles Pattern Plate. 

Here are the instructions for making the Uncle Sam eagle:

Want to give this card a try? It will also work well as a 4th of July card. Here are the products I used:

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 32 - Tree

Welcome to our April 2020 Designer Challenge.

Our theme for this month is Tree. I challenged the team to create a card using any of our die sets that include a tree. For my card and video I wanted to revisit two of my all-time favorite die sets - the Tree Pop-up and the Nature Edges. To add a new element, I am teaching an alternate way to use the included pop-up die to make angled platforms instead of straight.

Watch the full assembly video here:

This card measures 5x5 when closed and features our brand new Flowers Pattern Plate on the front. I trimmed it down to make it fit the square card.

When the card opens the two angled platforms allow the trees to pop up and outward, extending beyond the limits of the card. The Nature Edges are combined to make the grassy meadow and the cloud-filled sky.

Here are links to the products used in the video:

 

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Let's take a look at the amazing tree cards by our talented design team. For each card, you can click the designer's name to open a new tab with their associated blog post.

Sandy Diller cleverly combined the Tree Pop-up with a house from the House Pivot Panels to make a treehouse card! What a cute idea!

Lois Bak created this darling double-wide Woven Basket Box Card to celebrate Easter. I love the mixture of charms, animals and the Tree.

Karen Aicken shows how well Christmas dies can be repurposed into nature dies. She has used the Christmas Trees Pop Stand plus the reindeer styled as a deer. I love all the evergreens throughout this masculine card. 

Fran Sabad made this joyful beach scene card using the Snowman Twist Circle die set (minus the snowman) She mixed in a bunch of other dies to create the scene and, in an extremely clever repurposing, used the Halloween Charms Ghost die to create a beach towel. Clever!

Kelly Booth created this beachy Woven Basket Box Card incorporating palm trees. I just love all the fun touches. Notice that the Sea Animals shark is styled as an orca! Brilliant!

Frances Byrne cleverly created an integrated pop-up into her scene. She used the new Paper Frames Pop-up and inked it to match the background scenery. She decorated with stamps and evergreen trees from our Evergreen Pivot Panels die set.

Another fabulous challenge by our fabulous team. Hopefully you gained some tree-spiration! Join us next month on May 6 2020 for our next challenge with a theme of TREASURE.

Happy Crafting!

 

Another fabulous challenge by our fabulous team. Hopefully you gained some tree-spiration! Join us next month on May 6 2020 for our next challenge with a theme of TREASURE.

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston April 2020 Release Blog Hop

Welcome to launch week for our April 2020 release of eight new die sets. The dies are available to order TODAY from our website with shipping starting April 13, 2020 in the order received.

Some customers have been asking if we are able to ship product during the nationwide Stay at Home orders and the answer is yes! Our dies ship from Topeka, Kansas and our warehouse is located on the large country property of Tanya, my business partner, where she also has her home. All orders are picked up by the postal service. 

To launch our release week we're having a blog hop with our team today. Many thanks to Frances Byrne for putting everything together for us and collecting all the team blog links. In addition to the great inspiration on the hop, we're giving away prizes! Here are the details:

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the release each of the Karen Burniston - KB Riley LLC Design Team members, plus me, will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to some lucky person who comments on our blog posts, so make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post. Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received on our blog posts by Monday, April 13th 2020. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter!

My video today is an introduction to the collection. Throughout this week I'll be posting assembly videos for the new dies.

We have an interactive flip catalog featuring this collection as well as the seven dies release in November. In other good news, the very popular Surprise Ball Pop-up is back in stock!

Here are some of the cards from the video:

This card features the new Paper Frames Pop-up, Tiles Pattern Plate and the Cruise Charms. The Paper Frames Pop-up is a completely generic pop-up die suitable for any occasion. This card measures 5x5 square.

Here's the Paper Frames Pop-up again, this time in a standard A2 sized card. It features the Flowers Pattern Plate layered over strips of cardstock in rainbow order. I inked the pop-up to match the rainbow and then decorated with the Ocean Animals, Tiny Accessories 2, the tiara from the Treasure Charms, and Word Sets 6 and 10.

The Pattern Plates are just perfect for making quick card fronts for the pop-ups. On this card I used a full Flowers Pattern Plate in black on the front of the green A2-sized card. Then I cut another Flowers Pattern Plate out of white and chopped it into individual flowers, layering them over the top to make a custom pattern. An oval from our Crosshatch Ovals and our Happy Spring greeting finished out the card front along with some crepe ribbon.

As explained in the video, the new Treasure Chest die set is not a pop-up die, but it does have an interactive element because the lid can be hinged to open. When you combine the Treasure Chest with our Parcel Pop-up die set you can create pop-up treasure chest cards like this one. This features the Swirls and Tiles Pattern Plates layered together for the front of the card. I also mixed in our Sea Animals, Treasure Charms, Word Set 11 and Cruise Charms.

Ready to hop on? Here are the stops on the hop. Remember, each stop has a $25 gift credit to our website to give away randomly to a commenter, so leave comments on all the blogs to increase your chances. The drawings will take place on April 13, 2020. Best of luck!

Karen Burniston <---- YOU ARE HERE

Frances Byrne 

Karen Aicken

Lois Bak

Fran Sabad

Kelly Booth

Sandy Diller

 

During these unusual times we highly encourage shopping through your local stores whenever possible. We have already started shipping dies to the stores, so you may be able to get your new dies faster through a store in your area offering curbside pick-up or shipping. If you are sadly without a local store, you'll find the new dies available for order starting today on our website. Here are links to the new dies and other dies shown in the video: